This week's budget announcement had a focus on sorting out the books, and no straight sugar hits for individuals.
Infrastructure, healthcare and education seemed to be the clear priority of our fiscal plan, but three  relief for the cost-of-living pressure many face. 

Along with that, council rates have gone up for Auckland and the South Island's West Coast, and the Reserve Bank's signalled that there will be an increase to the OCR shortly - so the period we've seen of low interest rates on a mortgage is coming to an end. 

So how can we prepare ourselves for a toughening economy? Was it good that we didn't have any government handouts? 

Managing Director for the Private Office - Nick Crawford - joins Tim Beveridge for Smart Money... 

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